Halloween 2010 kicked off a rough week for Keith Olbermann and Bill Simmons.

On November 5, Olbermann, host of MSNBC's Countdown, was suspended without pay after the network learned he'd violated its ban on political contributions. Simmons, espn.com's "Sports Guy," had his own problems, posting his first losing week in the prestigious Hilton Super Contest, a Las Vegas–based gambling competition spanning the NFL season.

Olbermann's suspension lasted only two days, but it opened a wound that didn't heal, and he left the network last month. Simmons, meanwhile, keeps chugging along as one of the country's most popular sports columnists. He's not bad at picking the games, either: the Sports Guy bounced back with a 3-1-1 Week 9 in the Hilton contest, and ultimately tied for 15th out of 345 entries, more than tripling his $1500 entry fee.

Financial reporters aren't allowed to buy stock in companies they cover. Political reporters often go so far as to not vote in order to keep their claims of objectivity legitimate. But many sports reporters - gatekeepers of all the juicy tidbits that could sway public opinion on a game, either in Vegas or with a local bookmaker - think nothing of placing a wager themselves.

An estimated $380 billion is bet illegally in America each year, and more than $1 billion will be laid down on the Super Bowl this Sunday. Some of that action will come from sports reporters. According to a study by researchers at the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State, more than 40 percent of sports reporters surveyed said they had bet on sports, and yet only a quarter of American newsrooms have policies on sports gambling. Even the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) - which warns against accepting a free round of golf if doing so would create a conflict of interest - doesn't address gambling in its ethics guidelines.

When those who cover politics and news can and do lose their jobs over conflicts of interest, why do some of the biggest sports-reporting brands - including ESPN, the self-proclaimed "worldwide leader" - allow their writers to gamble on sports?

ROOTING INTEREST

Boston Globe sports editor Joe Sullivan has been in journalism for 40 years. In the early years of his career, he says, it wasn't unusual to come across reporters who mixed work with prognostication.

"When I first started, there was a lot of talk of people gambling on sports they covered," says Sullivan. "I think it has changed. None of our reporters now gamble as far as I know."

The Globe is among the minority of newspapers that has a policy on gambling. Sullivan says it was adopted from the New York Times - the Globe's parent company - about two and a half years ago, and essentially prohibits sports staffers from betting on games they cover.

"I think you should not be gambling on games you're covering," he says. "It influences how you look at the game. Suddenly you're rooting if you're betting, and you shouldn't be rooting."

Sullivan, who chairs APSE's Future and Internet Committee, says the organization looks at regulating gambling as a "state's rights" issue, leaving it up to member papers.

The Globe, like the Boston Herald, runs a gambling column on Fridays during football season. Sullivan says to ignore the relationship between the game and those who bet on it would be "burying our head in the sand."

Review: Head Games Legendary documentarian Steve James ( Hoop Dreams ) again turns his camera on the dark side of America's obsession with sports, this time looking at the rash of suicides and dementia linked to concussions.

Crown Jewel My neighborhood buddies and I have a friendly Texas Hold 'Em poker game. We've played four times coming into last weekend; of those games my neighbor, Jewel Rechsteiner, the pride of Lubbock, Texas, has won three. She dominates.

Our hams are worth fighting for Judging by the universally glowing reviews and the spitfire personality overhaul of Don Draper — now finally impervious to the dead-eyed glare of that vapid bitch Betty — Sunday's Mad Men season premiere proved the show won't be relinquishing its status as must-see-TV anytime soon.

The Big Hurt: This week in brand synergy Uh oh, it appears I don't have anything important to make fun of — I was really counting on a member of Aerosmith's dying right before my deadline or something, but no such luck. Let's mine the press-release pile for some fresh squareness.

More spooks Two years ago, AMC made a deal to develop a series based on Francis Ford Coppola's classic 1974 film The Conversation . That show still hasn't materialized, but with Rubicon , AMC has now brought us a drama with a similar premise.

Fenway Park goes classical "Free, friends, and Fenway Franks — all F's!" the young woman answered when I asked why she was at the very first symphonic concert at Fenway Park. "I've got one more F for you," she told me during the intermission.

THE YEAR AHEAD IN SPORTS | December 28, 2011 It seemed for every hail Mary, walk-off homer, and buzzer beater in 2011, the sports pages had a story on work stoppages, performance-enhancing drugs, or mind-boggling college-conference realignments.

INTERVIEW: JONAH HILL STRAIGHTENS UP | September 20, 2011 The Superbad star has embraced his inner math geek for his role in Moneyball , the film adaptation of Michael Lewis's best-selling book.

GEORGE KIMBALL, 1943-2011 | July 13, 2011 George Kimball, Phoenix sports editor (back when there was such a thing) for nearly 10 years, Boston Herald columnist for 25 more, and truly one of the great boxing writers of our time, passed away last week at his home in New York City. He was 67.

MEDIA ACTIVISTS AIM TO TAKE OVER THE FUTURE ... OF NEWS | April 08, 2011 Now imagine you're in charge of getting people excited about media reform — promoting things like local ownership of press outlets, a free and open Internet, and vibrant public journalism that operates outside of party politics. Besides the considerable outreach, education, and advocacy work in store, you've got to deal with the fact that many people just don't like the media.